OREANDA-NEWS. August 24, 2011. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phyto-Sanitary Control (Rosselkhoznadzor) and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The case was initiated upon petitions from producers of veterinary medicines that Rosselkhoznadzor had been refusing to accept documents and complete the procedure of confirming government registration of veterinary medicines because there had been no approved form of a document outlining the outcome of medicine safety monitoring.

Investigating the case, the FAS Commission revealed that Rosselkhoznadzor failed to open the procedure for confirming government registration of veterinary medicines. As the period of temporary registration of the veterinary medicines expired, it was impossible to distribute the medicines produced by the petitioners. Ultimately, the petitioners were put in unequal conditions in comparison with economic entities producing new medicines, which were temporary registered by Rosselkhoznadzor.

Thus, Rosselkhoznadzor restricted competition on the market of veterinary medicines and as a result of its actions the number of veterinary medicines on the market was reduced.

Approving the forms for monitoring veterinary medicine safety is within the scope of reference of the Ministry of Agriculture. Therefore, FAS Commission concluded that lack of actions from the Ministry of Agriculture resulted in restricting competition on the market of veterinary medicines.

Having investigated the case, the FAS Commission found that the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phyto-Sanitary Control (Rosselkhoznadzor) and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”